Two players are paying the price for their actions in another penalty-filled Battle of Florida.
Tampa Bay Lightning forward Scott Sabourin and Florida Panthers forward Anton Lundell both received fines from the NHL's department of player safety on Sunday.
Sabourin was fined $2,018.23 for slashing Florida’s Niko Mikkola, while Lundell was hit with a $5,000 fine for high-sticking Tampa Bay’s Jake Guentzel. Both fines were the maximum under the CBA.
The punishments come after Saturday's 4-2 Lightning win that saw a combined 136 penalty minutes between the two teams. Both teams set season-highs for penalty minutes — by far. Tampa Bay finished with 87, Florida finished with 49.
And there were reminders that these teams, as has been the case forever, simply do not like one another.
Sabourin — who had a starring role in the pre-season game that featured more than 300 penalty minutes — drew two minors and a misconduct early in the third period for roughing and slashing Mikkola. Sabourin was called up earlier in the day, and three of his nine games with the Lightning this season have been against Florida.
Those penalties against Sabourin came after play was stopped for about eight minutes late in the second period while referees sorted out 13 roughing penalties — seven against Tampa Bay, six against Florida. At one point during a stoppage, there were six players in the Lightning's penalty box.
Sabourin was given another misconduct with 33 seconds remaining, part of a 26-penalty night for Tampa Bay.
All of this also came after the NHL warned both teams not to "go over the line" in Saturday's game, per Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.
The two rivals don't meet again until Feb. 5 in Tampa.
— With files from the Associated Press
